governor romney 49.1% of the vote, a slim 74,000 votes divided the two candidates. the win gave the president eight of the nine critical swing states. he only lost to mitt romney north carolina. gregg: well, new signs that democrats and republicans could be moving toward a compromise deal, well at least they're talking about it, to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. major tax hikes across the board spending cuts, set to automatically go into effect at the end of the year. on "face the nation", senior obama advisor david axelrod discussing how both sides seem to be moving closer to a key sticking point. >> speaker boehner seemed to suggest that he was open to closing loopholes, to real tax reform. can you get there by just closing loopholes, or will it take more than that? >> well, look, i don't want to prejudge the discussions. i think that the speaker's comments have been encouraging and there is obviously money to be gained by closing some of these, closing some of these loopholes and applying them to deficit reduction. there are a lot of ways to skin this cat. gre